Explain Huston Smith's Interpretation Of The Fundamental Meaning Of Hinduism
You Can Have What You Want:
(Huston Smith's interpretation of the fundamental meaning of Hinduism)
1) Pleasure
"If pleasure is what you want, seek it intelligently"
Pleasure is viewed as a positive, legitimate desire in Hinduism
However, it does not satisfy completely b/c it is too privatized and fleeting
2) Worldly Success
Wealth, fame, and power
Like pleasure, worldly success is also viewed as a positive desire
However, it likewise does not completely satisfy for the following reasons: 1. Competitive and Precarious (One's success come's at the expense of anothers) 2. Insatiable ("Poverty consists not in the decrease of one's possessions, but in the increase of one's greed") 3. Self-Centered 4. Ephemeral
3) …show more content…
The second two are Paths of Renunciation.]
Life's Fundamental Limitations:
1) Limitations on Joy
Physical Pain (can be remedied through medicine and science)
Frustrated Desire/Psychological Pain (can be remedied through detachment from desire)
Boredom/Spiritual Pain
2) Ignorance
Can be remedied through wisdom ("knowing of That the knowledge of which brings knowledge of everything")
3) Finitude/Restricted Being
Can be remedied by moving beyond our fixation on the present
Four Paths of Yoga:
(Religion treated not as a belief, but as a technique)
Yoga -- "method of training designed to lead to integration or union"
1st Step is to cleanse oneself of impurities
2nd Step is to cultivate habits such as non-injury, truthfulness, non-stealing, self-control, cleanliness, contentment, self-discipline, compelling desire.
1) Jnana Yoga (knowledge) the path to oneness with the Godhead through knowledge an intuitive discernment that transforms the knower ("to know the good is to do the …show more content…
Concentration (to focus the mind on one thing only)
7. Meditation (the duality of the knower and the known, or of the subject and the object is resolved into a complete unity)
8. Samadhi (complete absorption into God, all forms pass away, to think no-thing)
Four Stages of Life:
Student
Householder
Retirement
Sannyasin
Four Castes in Society:
Brahmins (seers) -- intellectual and spiritual leaders
Kshatriyas -- administrators
Vaishyas -- producers and workers
Shudras -- followers or servants [Untouchables]
Hindu 'Theology':
1st Rule: to learn what to leave out (neti . . . neti)
Brahman -- Hindu name for the supreme reality
Nirguna Brahman -- God without attributes
Saguna Brahman -- God with attributes
Brahma -- Creator God
Vishnu -- Preserver God
Shiva -- Destroyer God
Hindu Anthropology:
Jiva -- individual soul
Body is thought of as a garment or a shelter ("Worn-out garments are shed by the body; worn-out bodies are shed by the dweller")
Samsara -- reincarnation, transmigration of the soul
Karma -- moral law of cause and effect; the absolute governing principle in both spiritual and material matters 1. Complete Moral Responsibility -- everyone gets exactly what they
(Huston Smith's interpretation of the fundamental meaning of Hinduism)
1) Pleasure
"If pleasure is what you want, seek it intelligently"
Pleasure is viewed as a positive, legitimate desire in Hinduism
However, it does not satisfy completely b/c it is too privatized and fleeting
2) Worldly Success
Wealth, fame, and power
Like pleasure, worldly success is also viewed as a positive desire
However, it likewise does not completely satisfy for the following reasons: 1. Competitive and Precarious (One's success come's at the expense of anothers) 2. Insatiable ("Poverty consists not in the decrease of one's possessions, but in the increase of one's greed") 3. Self-Centered 4. Ephemeral
3) …show more content…
The second two are Paths of Renunciation.]
Life's Fundamental Limitations:
1) Limitations on Joy
Physical Pain (can be remedied through medicine and science)
Frustrated Desire/Psychological Pain (can be remedied through detachment from desire)
Boredom/Spiritual Pain
2) Ignorance
Can be remedied through wisdom ("knowing of That the knowledge of which brings knowledge of everything")
3) Finitude/Restricted Being
Can be remedied by moving beyond our fixation on the present
Four Paths of Yoga:
(Religion treated not as a belief, but as a technique)
Yoga -- "method of training designed to lead to integration or union"
1st Step is to cleanse oneself of impurities
2nd Step is to cultivate habits such as non-injury, truthfulness, non-stealing, self-control, cleanliness, contentment, self-discipline, compelling desire.
1) Jnana Yoga (knowledge) the path to oneness with the Godhead through knowledge an intuitive discernment that transforms the knower ("to know the good is to do the …show more content…
Concentration (to focus the mind on one thing only)
7. Meditation (the duality of the knower and the known, or of the subject and the object is resolved into a complete unity)
8. Samadhi (complete absorption into God, all forms pass away, to think no-thing)
Four Stages of Life:
Student
Householder
Retirement
Sannyasin
Four Castes in Society:
Brahmins (seers) -- intellectual and spiritual leaders
Kshatriyas -- administrators
Vaishyas -- producers and workers
Shudras -- followers or servants [Untouchables]
Hindu 'Theology':
1st Rule: to learn what to leave out (neti . . . neti)
Brahman -- Hindu name for the supreme reality
Nirguna Brahman -- God without attributes
Saguna Brahman -- God with attributes
Brahma -- Creator God
Vishnu -- Preserver God
Shiva -- Destroyer God
Hindu Anthropology:
Jiva -- individual soul
Body is thought of as a garment or a shelter ("Worn-out garments are shed by the body; worn-out bodies are shed by the dweller")
Samsara -- reincarnation, transmigration of the soul
Karma -- moral law of cause and effect; the absolute governing principle in both spiritual and material matters 1. Complete Moral Responsibility -- everyone gets exactly what they